Basinger Steps Out for Awhile

Ok, so what's up with Kim Basinger and these "Help! I'm surrounded my thugs and there's no way out!" roles? First there was Cellular, in which she played a housewife who is taken hostage by a group of toughs with only a broken cell phone that dials one number to keep her connected to the outside world. Remember that one? Larry Cohen was going through, what I like to call, his "phone period," having written the screenplay for Phone Booth and the story for Cellular back-to-back.

Basinger has signed on to star in While She Was Out. Pic (which is neither a follow-up to Sandra Bullock's While You Were Sleeping nor a feature film version of the TLC show While You Were Out) revolves around a suburban housewife (Basinger) who finds herself lost in the woods and surrounded by a group of murderous thugs. Now, [cue cheesy closing line] all she has is a toolbox and her will to survive. A toolbox? WTF? Will she start by throwing screwdrivers at these guys? How much you wanna bet Craftsman invested a crap-load of money in product placement? Lifetime warranty baby! This way, if your wrench were to break while you were fighting for your life, simple return it to Sears for a new one. It's that easy. Anyway, Susan Montford is attached to direct and production is scheduled to begin this January.